Allies and Foes (I)

Abstract

Chapter 26 considers three Athenian prominent politicians and gifted orators in the period of Demosthenes’ activity: Aeschines, Hyperides, and Lycurgus. Scholars have often regarded Aeschines, Hyperides, and Lycurgus as leaders of factions or groups that collaborated with or opposed Demosthenes over policy towards Macedon: Aeschines has been seen as the leader of the pro-Macedonians, and Hyperides and Lycurgus as leaders of the radical and the conservative anti-Macedonians, respectively. Although it is now generally agreed that Athens had no political parties in the modern sense, scholars still tend to view Athenian politics in the period of Demosthenes primarily in the reductivist terms of pro- and anti-Macedonian division. The chapter discusses the political careers of Aeschines, Hyperides, and Lycurgus.